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Alt. Format Zoroark/Espeon (Post-Rotation)

SalazzleDazzle

Give 'em the ol' SalazzleDazzle
Member
Pokemon - 18

4x Zorua SLG 52
4x Zoroark-GX PR-SM SM84
3x Trubbish GRI 50
3x Garbodor GRI 51
2x Eevee SUM 101
2x Espeon-GX SUM 61

Trainers - 30

3x Po Town
1x Copycat
4x Cynthia
2x Field Blower
3x Choice Band
1x Mallow
2x Guzma
1x Pal Pad
4x Hau
1x Enhanced Hammer
3x Ultra Ball
1x Energy Loto
2x Pokemon Catcher
2 Rescue Stretcher

Energy - 12

4x Double Colorless Energy
8x Psychic Energy

The Deck

This is a deck I built on a low budget mostly using cards I already had, I played an EspeGarb (only using GRI Garb because I knew next to nothing about the game) list online for a while right after the release of Ultra Prism and quickly fell in love with Espeon-GX. This deck is an attempt at reviving that list for post-rotation using a new third member of the crew. I am not a very experienced player, but I have played a bit casually while I focused more on MtG.
Against evolution decks, my strategy is to try to go first and start with Eevee. Attach Psychic energy and evolve to Espeon GX on your first turn, then on your second turn attach DCE and take out whatever basic seems the most important to their strategy with Divide GX or Psychic if possible (I've beaten my cousin's Metagross list this way a few times and beat numerous decks online in much the same fasion, either by removing something important they were unable to replace with their hand/draws or by KOing their only mon). If a longer game or one against a deck built around big scary basics, starting with a Trubbish or Eevee and using them to stall while setting up Zoroark is the better start. If you can get two Zoroarks set up, try to trade into more. I usually find myself with three or even all four Zoroarks while walling/threatening my opponent with either Garbodor or Espeon. In the event of a Zorua start, building the bench and starting to beat the opponent's active with Zoroark's Riotous Beating is always a fairly feasible plan.
As for the trainers Cynthia, Copycat, Mallow, Guzma, Po Town, Field Blower, Choice Band, and Energy Loto have proven to be the most important to the deck in testing. Only one of those, Energy Loto, was a surprise to me. Energy Loto is an item card that lets you dig 7 cards into your deck for an energy, basic or not, and put it into your hand. There have been numerous times when I needed to get Riotous Beating online and cards 1-6 have been non-energy, but card 7 was the DCE I needed. Energy Loto has won me games, and has cemented its spot in my deck because of that. That said, the rest of the trainer cards in the deck either function as intended or get pitched to Zoroark's Trade. For the energy, 4x DCE are mostly used to get Riotous Beating online and give Espeon the rest of the energy for Psychic or Divide GX and 8x Psychic Energy covers any other energy costs.

This specific build has only been tested against a Metagross GX post-rotation list, against which it has a very good (14-1 record so far) matchup, despite Espeon and Garbodor being resisted.
 

TuxedoBlack

Old School Player
Member
I too play an Espeon-Garbodor deck. Following are a few thoughts for your consideration:

If Eevee is your stated, preferred starter, then you may want to increase its counts in order to improve your chances (you currently list 7 other starting Pokémon vs. the 2 Eevee) of starting with it. I'd suggesst -1 Zorua, -1 Zoroark GX for +1 Eevee and +1 Espeon GX.

Remember Po Town Stadium will also negatively affect your evolution acts too. Would an Altar of the Moone Stadium (for -1 Po Town) also be helpful?

IMO, Guzma is far superior to Pokémon Catcher for 2 important reasons: 1. Guzma switches your active Pokémon too which can be quite helpful; and 2. no coin flip is required; so, you'll have 100% chance of success (despite the fact it would expend your 1 Supporter use that turn which is offset by your several, potential Trade options). Consider replacing the Pokémon Catcher with Guzma. You may want to consider adding 1 Tapu Koko (Flying Flip) to help in certain Guzma situations.

Given the extra card-draw power of your Zoroark GXs, I'd suggest replacing 2 Hau with 2 Judge in order to disrupt your opponent's hand.

Have you considered incorporating a Oranguru (UPR) in order to recover and recycle any discarded resources (e.g., energy)? Maybe for -1 Pal Pad?

A 2nd Mallow (for -1 Hau perhaps) could also be very helpful, especially when you need a DCE.

I hope you find these comments helpful.
 

SalazzleDazzle

Give 'em the ol' SalazzleDazzle
Member
I too play an Espeon-Garbodor deck. Following are a few thoughts for your consideration:

If Eevee is your stated, preferred starter, then you may want to increase its counts in order to improve your chances (you currently list 7 other starting Pokémon vs. the 2 Eevee) of starting with it. I'd suggesst -1 Zorua, -1 Zoroark GX for +1 Eevee and +1 Espeon GX.

Remember Po Town Stadium will also negatively affect your evolution acts too. Would an Altar of the Moone Stadium (for -1 Po Town) also be helpful?

IMO, Guzma is far superior to Pokémon Catcher for 2 important reasons: 1. Guzma switches your active Pokémon too which can be quite helpful; and 2. no coin flip is required; so, you'll have 100% chance of success (despite the fact it would expend your 1 Supporter use that turn which is offset by your several, potential Trade options). Consider replacing the Pokémon Catcher with Guzma. You may want to consider adding 1 Tapu Koko (Flying Flip) to help in certain Guzma situations.

Given the extra card-draw power of your Zoroark GXs, I'd suggest replacing 2 Hau with 2 Judge in order to disrupt your opponent's hand.

Have you considered incorporating a Oranguru (UPR) in order to recover and recycle any discarded resources (e.g., energy)? Maybe for -1 Pal Pad?

A 2nd Mallow (for -1 Hau perhaps) could also be very helpful, especially when you need a DCE.

I hope you find these comments helpful.

I tested these changes (though I removed Hau for Oranguru and kept the Pal Pad) today and at first it was a bit bumpy, but my only loss of the day was to bad draws.
The extra Espeon line made a huge difference in how often I had it turn 1, and gave me good Trade candidates for later in the game if it came to that (since Zoroark/Garbodor seems to do better in late game than Espeon).
As for the stadium, Altar of the Moone was in my original list online but I wasn't sure about it when I was first building this list, but after testing it I'm wondering if I should just cut the other Po Towns for Altars.
Cutting the Catchers was a great call, but I don't currently have the third Guzma or a Tapu Koko so I just proxied them for testing. Of note, Tapu Koko's Flying Flip was very useful as the spread damage helps soften up the bigger mons that would otherwise be huge issues.
The judges haven't helped much in testing but I've only got the one Metagross deck to test against so the best I've been able to do is ruin an Algorythm GX.
Oranguru UPR was a card I didn't even know existed, but it works well at allowing me to discard basically anything to Ultra Ball or Trade and get it back into the deck quickly.
Mallow #2 ensured everything ran smoothly, and in one instance I even used one Mallow to retrieve a field blower to remove Choice Bands and the other Mallow to use in setting up a game-winning attack on my next turn.
I will test these changes further whenever I have more time, I think they make the deck a bit more consistent. Thank you for the reccomendations!
 
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